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(Long pause) <br />Sorry, technical errors, excuse me. <br />(Video presentation) <br />We just wanted to be sure that we put into context what it is we€re talking about today. We€re <br />talking about the children- 120 children from Innovations Public Charter School. I€m going to <br />turn the mike over to Bill. Uh, excuse me, over to Kate. <br />JACOBSON:Good afternoon Commissioners. First I€d like to take the opportunity to <br />just say thank you to the Planning Staff, in particular Chris Yuen, Norman Hayashi and Jeff <br />Darrow. We are grass roots volunteered driven effort to create a safe learning environment for <br />children. And the County Staff has at all times been helpful and professional and courteous as <br />westrugglethroughthecomplexissuesofLandUsePlanningGrowthManagement.Thanks <br />guys. <br />I serve on the Innovations local school board. I€m a mom and I have been working on the <br />relocation effort for 2 years. Through networking with other Statewide Charter Schools I€ve <br />been able to talk to other organizations that have built facilities and benefited from their prior <br />experiences. One of the things I€d like to share with you today is why- the reasons why I think <br />this campus is an ideal location for a small school. As the search began we established the <br />following parameters, we needed 3 to 5 acres, we wanted close proximity to Kona in order to <br />retain our current parents and families, we needed access to existing infrastructure such as roads, <br />water, utilities and we were hoping for a little bit of grass for the kids to play on too. All the <br />properties that we looked at had several challenges. Many of them had excessive CC & R€s, <br />inadequate surface roads, were far too distant from our current location, were way out of our <br />price range. It was a long search. Our proposed site is designated as medium-density in the <br />current General Plan so therefore it€s an appropriate land use and entirely compatible with <br />growth management. Quality planning is essential for the creation of livable sustainable <br />communities. However the planning process should never become an impediment to creating <br />important and necessary public amenities. Good government facilitates the development of <br />infrastructure when it meets the needs of the community. Commissioners the community needs <br />this school and we need this particular site. Please know that we have the support of many <br />elected officials including Congressman Ed Case, Governor Linda Lingle, Senator Paul Whalen, <br />House Representative Josh Green, County Council members Virginia Isbell and Angel Pilago, <br />most of which have written testimony on our behalf. We are honored by the community leaders <br />and parents and teachers and children who came today, this morning to support Innovations. So <br />on behalf of them and for future generations I thank you for your consideration and I urge you to <br />approve our Special Permit Application as quickly as possible so that we can begin construction <br />and have the classrooms ready for the children by the next school year. Mahalo. <br />MR. WOERNER:I€m Bill WOERNER. I€m founder and former Director of the West <br />Hawaii Explorations Academy Public Charter School and I€m currently volunteer project <br />manager for Innovations€ relocation. I think you€ll find that most everyone agrees that it€s, with <br />the wisdom of supporting the Innovations Public Charter School. It€s an award winning <br />6 <br />EXHIBIT D <br /> <br />